Buying a farm in 2020, and feeling so excited about what was ahead, seems like a lifetime ago. In reality, it was almost exactly three years ago when we first looked at this house. Although some days it doesn’t feel like it, looking back, we really have accomplished so much.
The first year we were able to plan out the initial stage of our garden which included planting two high raised beds from birdies, and two low raised beds made of the wood rafters we had taken down from our bedroom ceiling. We planted several types of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radishes and some unsuccessful carrots. We also started several fruit trees, blackberry bushes and other things in the fruit tree guild along both sides of the garden.
Oh, and beans. So many beans. We planted them so that they would grow up and over the arches and they delivered as promised!
We also built a chicken coop in the barn, got 20 or so chickens and turned the overhang attached to the barn into the enclosed in chicken run.
Did I mention we were doing this with three unexpected new kittens, and with me struggling with what we would later figure out to be long covid? Exhaustion was the word of the year.
In 2022 we added a farm stand to sell our eggs. Because we had multiple outbuildings when we bought this property, we decided to use one of the 10′ x 12′ wooden sheds as an honor egg hut. For the first season we set up a beverage fridge just inside the door of the shed with a cash box and some signage.
Also in 2022, we added more beds to the garden: bringing the total to eight tall beds. This season we grew a variety of things; from cucumber, to japanese spinach, kale, garlic, many varieties of tomatoes, peppers. Unfortunately before we could get a deer fence constructed, several of the young plants were eaten and we lost a lot of seedlings early on.
Spring of 2023 we decided to redo and expand the egg hut to be more of a farm stand. We whitewashed the interior, and painted the exterior black. I ordered some signage from etsy and what I couldn’t find there I ended up making myself. This past weekend we made a large farmhouse table to replace the rickety one that came with the shed. We also added four more low metal beds to the garden just for tomatoes, perfected the deer fencing, and have planted a considerable amount of landscaping where there was absolutely none. (We love the half off rack in the garden center. Orphan plants-like animals-have a home here!)
As I write this, out in the garden there are bees buzzing around all of the many yellow flowers waiting to turn into tomatoes and cucumbers and watermelons, and we even have a few apples on our first apple tree. There are blackberries waiting to ripen, and new flowers to be cut each evening that I get to enjoy in a mason jar vase on my windowsill. Our rooster Tyson is letting us know he is still alive, and several cats have just run up the stairs because some invisible danger apparently is happening outside our window. Life is pretty complete out here.
two daisies / life 